Exoskeletons are definitely the way to go to boost and assist people’s natural strength. There have been numerous exoskeleton prototypes created, but most of them cost an arm and a leg to make. That’s not the case of the Titan Arm, winner of the 2013 James Dyson Award.

Project Engineers Roger Rovekamp and Shelley Rea demonstrate the X1 Robotic Exoskeleton for resistive exercise, rehabilitation and mobility augmentation in the Advanced Robotics Development Lab. Image courtesy of Robert Markowitz

A powered exoskeleton might help astronauts accomplish superhuman tasks in orbit. NASA’s new X1 robotic exoskeleton is a direct spinoff their space-borne Robonaut 2 project, and could help astronauts stay healthy while also allowing paraplegics to walk on Earth.

Helping people who can’t walk walk again is an admirable goal, and that’s what the Kinect Kinetic Orthosis is supposed to do. It’s specifically designed for people suffering from neurological disorders that affect the strength of their legs.

This robotic exoskeleton, like most exoskeletons, can give anyone who wears it a lot of extra strength. Enough strength to carry a paralyzed man up a mountain. At least that’s what’s going to happen with this particular suit.

I’ve always wanted to see in real life the exoskeleton that Ripley used in Aliens. It looks like it almost has arrived. Skeletonics [JP] appears to be a college-level engineering project, but it does look pretty impressive. This is what they call a “passive” exoskeleton because it doesn’t have any servomechanisms.

Like this:

Ever since I saw an exoskeleton in Aliens, I wondered why there weren’t any real ones around. Over the last decade, actual working exoskeletons have started to appear, albeit in a smaller fashion. This one is only for your arm to help you lift very heavy things.

Ah Raytheon, just the name scares some guys silly. Raytheon is a defense contractor and they’ve released some new information and videos of their new exoskeleton called the XOS 2. And no, this isn’t science-fiction.